Local hoops junkies hoping to get their fix of top high school boys basketball will have to wait until Saturday.

With a winter storm expected to drop 20 to 30 centimetres of snow on the city between Thursday evening and Friday evening, the organizers of the 38th Annual Ontario Catholic Classic basketball tournament have decided to start the tournament Saturday instead of Friday. The schedule and location of the games will remain the same except for the consolation and championship finals which will be played at 4:30 and 6 p.m. Sunday instead of 6:30 and 8 p.m Saturday.

Organizers had grappled with a couple of different options before settling on making the event a Saturday and Sunday affair.

“The weather is going to be good on Saturday and Sunday so why are even thinking about playing games with people’s safety on Friday?” organizing committee member Mike Pullar said. “The tournament was based on sacrifice. People used to drive through snowstorms and stay overnight when the weather wasn’t good. Thirty-eight years of history aren’t going to go down the tubes because of a snowstorm.”

As of Thursday afternoon, all 16 teams entered in the event have confirmed their intention to remain in the tournament.

The top four seeds in the tournament are: St. Michael’s College School in Toronto, the top-ranked team in Canada as rated by northpolehoops.com; Holy Trinity from Halton, the third-ranked team by northpolehoops.com; Cardinal Newman from Hamilton; and, D’Youville from Peel, the fourth-ranked team northpolehoops.com. St. Michael’s is the Classic’s defending champion.

Among the other teams in the field are: Académie catholique Mère-Teresa from Hamilton, the 23rd-ranked squad by northpolehoops.com; and, Father Goertz from Peel, the 13th-ranked squad in the GTA according to hooptownGTA.com.

“When you consider the depth of the tournament, it’s amazing,” Pullar said. “Two years ago it was incredible. We had quad A, triple A and double A (OFSAA) finalists in our Final Four.”

The Niagara Region will be represented in the tournament by Denis Morris, Notre Dame, St. Francis and St. Paul. The former two received spots as original teams in the event and the latter two gained admittance by being the top two Catholic teams in Zone 4 and 3 play.

Past winners of the tournament’s MVP award includes Cleveland Cavaliers player Tristan Thompson (2007 MVP) and this year’s event also includes some high-profile players.

Among the hoopsters to watch are: St. Michael’s Rashayne Case and 2012 tourney all-star Malcolm Duvivier, a member of Team Canada in 2011 and 2012; Holy Trinity’s Nolan Mackenzie and Trevon McNeil; D’Youville’s Grade 11 guard Josiah Riley; ACMT’s Hamid Nessek; and, St. Francis guard Pat Pilato, who will play at Brock, McMaster or the University of Victoria next season.

“When you look at the program it’s pretty amazing,” Pullar said. “It’s loaded with NCAA talent, CIS (Canadian Interunversity Sport) talent and now even NBA talent.”